Broncos Savaged as Texans Win…with OneTexFan

The Texans started Saturday evening’s football game with a very good omen of what would eventually ensue when they won the coin toss.
Starting the game with the Houston Defense taking the field looks to be an exceptional decision that should be maintained in the future. The Texans’ strength this season appears to rest in the hands of their big-D. Deferring to the opposing Offense is a good idea.

Jadeveon Clowney did not participate in the night’s defensive effort. Clowney did make a trip to the trainer’s table during practice against the Broncos earlier in the week. Holding him out may have been a wise decision. It makes Texans’ fans ponder the wealth of possibilities when all healthy bodies on Defense will appear together for the first time.

It’s tough to keep a good man down, and the Houston Texans did try to keep the Denver Broncos’ great one Peyton Manning down, but they didn’t succeed. With Manning starting the football game he put together an amazing effort completing 21 out of 27 passes for 243 yards.

Peyton Manning has long laid claim to being one of the class acts of the NFL, but it appears that this future Hall of Fame Quarterback may have landed a big black mark on Santa’s list this coming Christmas by reportedly using the naughty “F word” while taunting Texans’ Safety D. J. Swearinger. This behavior drew a flag shortly after Manning completed a Touchdown pass to Emmanuel Sanders. (Emmanuel Sanders collected 5 passes in the game for a total of 128 yards and 2 Touchdowns.) D. J. sealed a Texans/Broncos’ practice this past week by intercepting Manning’s last throw of the day. It seemed to also fire-up Peyton when after a prior play the Texans’ Safety laid a hard lick toward Wes Welker’s head. Swearinger was flagged on that play. D. J. countered by explaining after the game that as he led the hit and directed a shoulder towards Welker that the Broncos’ Receiver lowered his head at the last instant and that his move was unintentional. Manning showed that he’s very protective of his superstar wide Receiver. Swearinger’s typical game play seems to be following a trend in trying to get into the heads of opposing Offensive players. As long as the yellow laundry doesn’t fall at his own feet this behavior of his has a chance of working out in the Texans’ best interests. This is a situation that O’B1 needs to keep a sharp eye towards in all future games.

Ryan Fitzpatrick, F-14, was 10 of 17 for 80 yards in Saturday’s game as Case Keenum finished his on-field efforts going 11 of 18 for 74 yards.
Tom Savage showed great future promise as he showcased his abilities by going 5 for 6 with 68 yards of his own, ending the night’s work with a sensational 153.5 Quarterback rating. This places even more pressure on Case Keenum’s shoulders as Savage rises to the occasion in fighting for the back-up position at QB. Last week during the contest against the Atlanta Falcons Tom looked out of element at Quarterback and totally overwhelmed. But following a Touchdown pass to Tight End Ryan Griffin, Savage responded exceptionally well. Under the intensive pressure during the waning moments of the game O’B1 wanted to see if his young Quarterback would remain composed as he attempted to deliver the goods on a called 2 point conversion play. The plan was executed perfectly as Travis Labhart came down with the pass completion and scored. As it now stands the Houston Texans are looking good while making the former stand-out Pittsburgh QB their fourth round pick of the 2014 NFL Draft.

The Houston Texans’ Quarterbacks threw to 16 Receivers in the game with Ryan Griffin getting the lion’s share of the collective effort with 71 yards. The Tight End was used effectively. After one excellent ball delivered via airmail, Jonathan Grimes went for 24 yards while Travis Labhart had 2 receptions gathering 22 yards. Andre Johnson made his preseason debut with 3 catches for 18 yards while missing one that usually would have merited a “gimmie” considering his athletic abilities. Look for AJ to get more work next week against the San Francisco 49’ers at NRG Stadium.

Arian Foster didn’t see any action in the game as the Houston Texans showed that their RB stable had plenty of overall horsepower. With a roundhouse combination of Jonathan Grimes, Alfred Blue and Ronnie Brown the Texans collected a total of 69 yards. It’s looking like Houston has consistent grinding power to enable the team to keep their Defense off of the field when necessary. This bodes well for the regular season games.

Whitney Mercilus (Still one of the best names in the NFL), continues to impress while exiting the game with a sack all of his own. A standout play by Ricardo Mathews also resulted in a sack. Mathews was signed this off season by the Texans. He was a 7th round Draft pick of the Indianapolis Colts in 2010 after playing college football for Cincinnati.

A. J. Bouye still continues to impress those who’re looking forward to seeing steady improvement by the Houston Defense this season. Bouye had a very nice Interception in the 2nd QTR by returning the ball for 57 yards. Jonathan Grimes responded by adding his Touchdown to the scoreboard shortly afterwards.

The football game ended with the Houston Texans collecting 5 penalties for 63 yards. After the two previous preseason games when Houston collected a total of 28 penalties for 223 yards the Texans now appear to be playing much smarter football. However; it was very strange to see Brian Cushing incurring a penalty for the Texans first infraction of the game with a flag for a ‘hands to the face’ call.

Honorable mentions for the game go out to Eddie Pleasant who also had one Interception.